caliche
pronunciation
How to pronounce caliche in British English:
UK [kə'li:tʃi:]
How to pronounce caliche in American English:
US [kə'litʃi]
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- Noun:
- crust or layer of hard subsoil encrusted with calcium-carbonate occurring in arid or semiarid regions
- nitrate-bearing rock or gravel of the sodium nitrate deposits of Chile and Peru
Word Origin
- caliche (n.)
- sodium nitrate deposits in Chile and Peru, 1858, from American Spanish, from Spanish caliche "pebble in a brick," from Latin calx "pebble" (see chalk (n.)).
Example
- 1. Digging in that hard old caliche .
- 2. Caliche is a reddish-brown to white layer found in many desert soils .